Meanwhile, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Sunday that G20 finance leaders have informally talked about the movements at their meeting in Paris. Flaherty said that while he could empathize with the protesters in America decrying economic disparity, he argued the same can’t be said of Canada.

“We didn’t have to bail out our banks. It’s not a situation where as some Americans can say that they suffered financially as a result of the misbehaviour of their banks and the use of tax dollars to assist their banks. That isn’t true in Canada,” Flaherty said on CTV’s Question Period.

He said the country’s tax system, universal health care, bank regulations and social assistance regime made the economic realities in Canada different than that of the United States.

“We don’t have that degree of economic inequality in Canada,” he said.

Occupy Toronto, designed to run in concert with similar protests in New York and around the world, began Saturday morning with a short march along Bay Street in the heart of the city’s financial district. It ended at the nearby park, which was converted over the course of the afternoon into a massive communal campsite, though only a small number of participants had set up overnight tents.

As protests go, this one was shaping up not as a blaze, but a slow-cooker: Protesters spent much of the afternoon finding their footing in the “occupation zone” and organizing logistical details, such as food and medical aid stations.

Though the overarching theme of the movement is anger at the state of global finance, participants brandished signs to protest everything from “corporate greed” to the official narrative of 9/11 to a controversial mega-quarry northwest of Toronto.

Spontaneous chants of “we are the 99%” broke out, a reference meant to distinguish protesters from “the elite 1%” who control global wealth.

Sid Ryan, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, was on hand to endorse the movement.

“Most of the issues they’re complaining about, we’ve been fighting them for decades,” Mr. Ryan said, citing high unemployment, bank bailouts and the rising debt load for post-secondary students.

“People are madder than hell…. I think it will become a political movement of sorts,” Mr. Ryan said, noting the specific messages and desired outcomes of Occupy Toronto would become clearer in the coming days.

Volunteer organizer Daniel Roth said there were no leaders of what he called a “people’s movement” for economic and social justice.

Inspired by the Arab Spring, the worldwide occupation movements come at a time of global economic turmoil, and the communal sense of anger was evident in signs calling for an end to the western capitalist system.

“There’s going to be a process. We’re forming a community here, and out of that community, demands and messages will come out…. We’re creating a space where people can form the democratic process,” Mr. Roth said, noting participants were committed to “non-violent” means.

Volunteers communicated with the crowd by yelling out messages, which were then repeated in multiple echoes, a system Mr. Roth said was designed to ensure “everyone hears it together and everyone says it together.”

Volunteer organizer Nele Michiels said a number of committees had been struck to deal with the logistical issues surrounding camp setup and maintenance. Though a general assembly was slated for Saturday evening, it could be days before participants come out with a cohesive message, she noted.

Throughout the park, the sounds of clapping hands, chanting and drumbeats continued into the afternoon. A smattering of police officers surrounded the park, where estimates of attendance ranged from 2,000 to 3,000 — but unlike at last year’s G20 summit, the relationship between police and demonstrators appeared peaceful.

A group of employees from Air Canada, where a planned strike was recently blocked by the federal government, were in attendance to rally their cause and support the larger occupation movement.

“This is what happens when people get pushed, and pushed, and pushed,” said Air Canada service director Spiro Vatistas.

In one corner of the park, participants took turns speaking to the assembled crowd about why they had come, while others wrote anti-consumerist messages in chalk on a path through the middle of the park. A small food tent offered apples, sandwiches and cookies; a pile of books on a tarp became a makeshift library; groups of people sang, waved banners and hoisted balloons.

Sherry Vukelic said she came for her son.

“I’m here to fight for his future,” she said, pointing to the plight of Toronto’s impoverished residents. “There are so many problems out there that need to be fixed…. It’s for us to become equal.”

In an impromptu address to the gathered crowd, one participant called Occupy Toronto “the biggest movement since the hippie movement,” noting he became frustrated with social inequity after watching a steady stream of people pick through the dumpster outside his apartment for scraps of food and bottles to sell.

Atticus Saunders called the movement “a great forum for change” in Toronto and beyond.

“It’s the first time something like this has happened on a national scale,” he said.

A message on occupyto.org says the movement aims to send “a message to the financial sector worldwide that banks exist to serve us, not the other way around,” and urges members of “the 99%” to rise up. About 10,000 people have clicked “like” on the OccupyTO Facebook page.

With last year’s G20 summit and associated fallout — including a violent rampage by a small group of Black Bloc protesters and the largest mass arrest in Toronto’s history — still fresh on the city’s mind, police said their main goal Saturday was to ensure demonstrations remained peaceful.

“We have put together a plan. The two goals are to protect public safety and facilitate a peaceful protest,” spokesman Mark Pugash said. “We have to plan for a variety of contingencies.”